Mumbai: Bus fare cut? Not anytime soon, says BEST committee

The BEST general manager says he is confident of convincing the panel

Bus fare will not be slashed to Rs 5 from R8 anytime soon. The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking had on Thursday presented a proposal to revise base fare, which was scrapped by the members of the BEST Committee who met on Friday.

The BEST had pitched the proposal after BMC Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi and leaders of Shiv Sena and BJP had offered to provide a fund of R600 crore if the fleet of buses was raised to 7,000 and the fare was reduced to R5 from current R8. The move was aimed at improving bus service and promoting use of the public transportation in city. However, the panel, which includes Sena and BJP leaders, asserted that the proposal was pitched in a haste.

Also read: Mumbai: BEST set to reduce base bus fare to Rs 5

"I do not know how this proposal was tabled. The decisions have been taken at the BMC after negotiations with the trade unions and the documents on the basis of which this proposal has been put forward should be first handed over to this committee. We need to know what has happened and what is the urgency for this move," BJP leader and panel member Sunil Ganacharya said.

Calling the proposal impractical, he said, "Today, BEST has a fleet of 2,900 on-road buses with about 20 lakh commuters. Is it possible to get 7,000 buses in three months? How is BEST going to manage 7,000 buses? Historically, it has never had over 4,000 buses and the 26 depots do not have the capacity beyond that. Where will the additional buses be parked? What about staff crunch? If the fare is slashed and more passengers join, BEST won't make any profit as running additional buses on reduced fare will bring in the same revenue. Have all these points been addressed? I suggest we hold back the proposal for a rethink."

Panel members from Shiv Sena agreed with Ganacharya. BEST Chairman and Sena leader Anil Patankar said the proposal was marked as "not taken". We need to rethink on the matter and bring it with proper preparations," he said while rejecting the proposal.

Also Read: Mumbai: BEST to receive grant of Rs 600 crore from BMC

'Will convince the panel'
BEST General Manager Surendra Bagade said he was confident of convincing the committee. "We have thought about the issues raised at the meeting. We target to raise the number of passengers to 50 lakh. We have published call for tenders for about 500 buses and more will be sent for over 1,000 buses in the next three months. To address the parking issue, we could go for vertical system at existing bus depots that have ample space. The committee should have cleared the proposal, but we are confident of convincing them," he told mid-day.

In the revised chart, the BEST Undertaking had proposed R5 for first 5 kms, R10 for 10 km and R15 for 15 km. The fare for AC buses had also been drastically reduced to R6 for first 5 kms and R13 for 10 kms.

Also Read: Uber could help you book a seat on BEST

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